I'm on a boat 
My beard in the breeze
Symptom of the Universe
Complete the Circle
All is well 
All is well

Freewheel Burning

Freewheel Burning they come to snuff the Rooster crossing the Devil's Fork with two shakes of a Lamb's Ear  We are Free Rinse Repeat 

"The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers." - Basho

“I have a lot of control in my life and I just wanted to let go of the reins a little bit, have an adventure."

John Waters Picked up Hitchhiking by Indie Band in Ohio

Deliverance

"Attain deliverance in disturbances"

Variation

Variation On A Theme By Rilke

By Denise Levertov
(1923 - 1997)



(The Book of Hours, Book I, Poem 1, Stanza 1)

A certain day became a presence to me;
there it was, confronting me -- a sky, air, light:
a being. And before it started to descend
from the height of noon, it leaned over
and struck my shoulder as if with
the flat of a sword, granting me
honor and a task. The day's blow
rang out, metallic -- or it was I, a bell awakened,
and what I heard was my whole self
saying and singing what it knew: I can.

When morning arose

When morning arose 

By Qushayri 
English version by Michael A. Sells 



When morning arose 
on the star of a strong wine, 
drunkenness and soberness 
were the same to me.

September / October

A September to forget. Rain will wash away what the time changes. Light is where darkness failed to penetrate. I will find the path though I do not know the way.

IT'S ALREADY DECEMBER 21, 2012

"Many visionaries and prophets expect there to be a huge and sudden shift in the world's story sometime soon. Whether it happens on December 21, 2012 or a later date, a sizable proportion of them even predict that it will be "in the twinkling of an eye" -- a sudden cascade of events that completely changes everything everywhere.


Some paint the scenario in broad, catastrophic strokes, expecting something -- they're not sure what -- that will have the impact of a large meteor strike or nuclear war or pandemic disease. Others harbor a more benign but equally fuzzy expectation, speculating that maybe some higher psychic powers will kick in to the multitudes all at once, or that benevolent extraterrestrials will arrive to solve our energy crisis.


What very few of the prophets do, however, is make a precise prediction about exactly what will happen. Their visions contain no assurances, no specifics. And in my view, that's worse than useless. It fills us with a vague buzz of fear or amorphous sense of hope, but offers no concrete directions about what to do to prevent the dreaded thing or help create the hoped-for thing.


And the fact is, as I see it, they can't possibly know what the Big Shift is -- if, that is, a Big Shift is really looming. The very nature of any Big Shift will be so unexpected, so beyond our imaginations, and so utterly alien to what we understand, that we can't possibly delineate its contours in advance.


I'm reminded of Jung's formula, which is that we don't so much solve our problems as we outgrow them. We add capacities and experiences that eventually make us bigger than the problems.


This theory can be applied in reverse: If we have not yet grown wiser than our current predicament, then we can't see what the evolved state is beyond the predicament. Our minds are as-yet incapable of embodying the vision that will catapult us beyond the problem we're stuck in.


When the Big Shift comes, whether or not it comes in the twinkling of an eye, it will be something that no one foresaw, let alone described in detail. It will be beyond our comprehension, unlike anything we could have visualized headed our way. (Thirty years ago, did anyone imagine the Internet or the impact it's having?)


And if that's true, then the inescapable conclusion is: There's no use trying to plan ahead for it. It's counterproductive to hold a particular scenario in our mind as the likely development. And it's downright crazy to harbor a chronic sense of dread about an unknowable, unimaginable series of events.


The best way to prepare for a Big Shift is to cultivate mental and emotional states that ripen us to be ready for anything:


* a commitment to not getting lost inside our own heads;


* a strategy to avoid being enthralled with the hypnotic lure of painful emotions, past events, and worries about the future;


* a trust in empirical evidence over our time-worn beliefs and old habits;


* a talent for turning up our curiosity full blast and tuning in to the raw truth of every moment with our beginner's mind fully engaged;


* and an eagerness to dwell gracefully in the midst of all the interesting questions that tease and teach us.


Everything I just described also happens to be an excellent way to prime yourself for a chronic, low-grade, always-on, simmering-at-low-heat brand of ecstasy -- a state of being more-or-less permanently in the Tao, in the groove, in the zone."

a drum beat will ripple whiskey in your glass

a Ting-Sha chimes out aural vibrations washing over the distance from metal struck to ear passage hoping for clearance eight auspicious symbols conch knot fish lotus parasol urn wheel banner   

a drum beat will ripple whiskey in your glass dirt underfoot poofs up in brown sugar detonations the wave will give and the wave will take away surfers ride it as far as they can then paddle back out into the blue again (content, happy)  (OK:  stoked) 
this is everything and nothing
a miracle and commonplace 

a cracked earth gave the rising sun eight minutes to cover a distance between massive epicenter and strangely underwater 

"Here's what you need to do", I said to me.  

"Forgive yourself and everyone you have ever been.  Forgive your friends and enemies.  Lost lovers.  Strangers.  Librarians.  Do it now Nemo.  Don't wait.  What you have will slip through your fingers.  Let go the weight as it drags you under the atomic wave."

10 sun days

fireworks 10 year bubble burst each orbit round the sun a mammoth chapter in a colassally colorful pop-up book
[ in the year of the dragon my daughter fell from the sky i just had to find out where she landed ]
each page has a clicking timer only so much clock to read and delight in the 3D trees and pull-tab rainbows and typing cow flaps and Farmer Brown proclamations
[ looking at the chewy rabbit thingy she's up in my arms finally the rabbit my daughter and me ]
chapter one

22 years = rows of corn side by side miles beyond the orange horizon

sunrise today elementary taxi ride through Tacoma's charcoal streets morning school drop-off up through the gates she goes turns to wave blows a kiss a bell rings AND it's 1988 Red Beetle 73 rolling hills Polk County i was raw play-doh fresh out of the plastic cup thin as a heron in black high-tops getting better everyday Tesla mechanical resonance cassette magnetic tape TDK up to 11 Pioneer speakers thumpin the back seat Pacific Highway south for the winter more academia for whatever

after three days

after three days the stone was moved

time behind us new day today 

here the mirror the universe you make as you wish 

¡Hola! come out of your shell day

Sol has the amps plugged and ready 

Venus laughs sweet and will mix the drinks Tikki Tavi 

whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers

that you do unto me 

remember this this is important

Ganesh lost his head to Shiva

enraged Parvathi said save him

and Shiva did 

with a sleeping elephant of all things 

large ears to listen more

small mouth to talk less

axe in one hand to cut ties

rope in another to pull nearer

a third hand to bless

a fourth to toss out 

really 

the tomb was empty just the words "I'm not there"

scrawled in red paint 

10 earths can stack inside a fiery solar plume

riding a whale on the Sea of Cortez

squirtin horseclams on Osprey Island

playing pounce with Mao Zedong

back in time my father 18 

a skinny sailor home on shore leave 

Los Angeles 1958

i jumped in the river and what did I see?

i jumped in the river and what did I see? black-eyed angels swimming with me a moon full of stars and astral cars all the figures i used to see all my lovers were there with me all my past and futures and we all went to heaven in a little row boat there was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt there was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt there was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt there was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt